WC Wisconsin News

A U.S. Representative from Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District praised President Joe Biden’s plans to invest in infrastructure during Biden’s June 29 visit to the Municipal Transit Utility in La Crosse.

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin), who according to his biography serves on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a June 29 Twitter post that he looks forward to discussions on how Wisconsin communities will benefit from Biden’s updates.

“It’s past time to update our infrastructure to create good-paying jobs and deliver better roads, bridges and more,” Kind said in a follow-up tweet. “It was great having @POTUS in La Crosse to discuss how investing in infrastructure will help us build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. Let's get the job done!”

In the video “President Biden Delivers Remarks on Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework,” Biden told the audience that the American Jobs Plan will include a generational investment to modernize infrastructure in the U.S., “creating millions of good-paying jobs.”

“That’s not coming from me. That’s coming from Wall Street. Millions of good-paying jobs and position America to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century because China is way out working us in terms of infrastructure,” Biden said in the video. “It’s going to make the world of difference for families here in Wisconsin.”

American workers will receive prevailing-wage jobs by repairing roads and bridges, Biden said.

“You all know why that matters. One in five miles of highway and roads in America are in poor condition. One in five miles. Some states it’s worse where the weather is tougher,” Biden said. “Fifty percent of our bridges are over 50 years old. More than 1,000 bridges here in Wisconsin are rated as structurally deficient by engineers.”

Kevin Hoyer responded on Facebook that it’s time for infrastructure to be updated.

“What does concern me is that this infrastructure bill does not put all that money into infrastructure as we know it,” Hoyer said on Facebook. “Please stop playing games with our money and make sure an infrastructure bill actually does what it is titled. The last thing our economy needs is wasteful spending.”

Biden’s previous plan to talk on agriculture while in Wisconsin was scrapped in favor of the talk on infrastructure, Brendan Cullerton, Milwaukee reporter, tweeted. 

The Washington Free Beacon reported that three dozen House Democrats voted on June 9 “against an amendment to a $547 billion infrastructure bill that would prohibit the use of federal transit funds to buy artwork.”